It's been strangely unremarked and overlooked that this year marks the 40th anniversary of one of Alan Ayckbourn's most popular and successful works.
In June and July 1973 at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, the world premiere of The Norman Conquests took place (although they weren't called The Norman Conquests then). Three plays which would become more successful than the author ever imagined.
The plays were not originally marketed as a trilogy as Alan did not want to put off summer visitors to the Library Theatre who might otherwise have baulked at the idea of having to see three plays during their week's holiday. Each play was written to stand alone as well as building on the other plays.
Alan also never expected the three plays to transfer to London (nor to have much of a future in repertory or amateur theatre) and, initially, it seemed very unlikely as no-one wanted to stage three plays, just one or two - which Alan was never going to allow.
In 1974, the plays did eventually transfer to London to Greenwich Theatre though - advertised for the first time as The Norman Conquests and as a trilogy. The titles of two of the plays had also changed and Eric Thompson - with a little help from Alan - directed one of the most notable West End ensemble casts in an Ayckbourn play.
The success of the production led to an immediate West End transfer and, essentially, the beginnings of the phenomenal success of the trilogy. It would go on to be produced by professional and amateur companies around the world, be adapted for television and radio and would, in 2009, be the first Ayckbourn play to win a Tony Award with the Broadway transfer of Matthew Warchus's exceptional 2008 revival at London's Old Vic.
To mark the 40th anniversary of the trilogy, we've found an interview with Alan Ayckbourn in the Ayckbourn Archive held at the Borthwick Institute at the University of York. Although the date and interviewer are not recorded, it does offer some insight into Alan's thoughts on one of his most famous creations.
Which character in The Norman Conquests do you sympathise with the most, and why?
I think I feel sorry for all of them in different ways. They are all victims of themselves and of the people they've chosen, or indeed not chosen, to live with. Annie must come pretty high on the list.
Was there anyone in particular who you based Norman's character on?
Not really. I once said Norman was how I'd love to be, Tom was how I appeared and Reg was what I feared I'd become. They're all parts of me, male and female characters.
What made you choose the dining room, sitting room and garden as locations for your trilogy?
They were sort of logical locations. I'd just done kitchens (three of them) in Absurd Person Singular so I couldn't use them again. Living Rooms and Dining Rooms seemed ideal locations for people to assemble or pass through giving me a great freedom to move my characters about. A lot of The Norman Conquests is about getting people on and off. The garden naturally followed and gave the piece a nice contrast. Drama always has such a different feel when it's out of doors.
Would you consider writing a sequel to The Norman Conquests?
Heavens, no. I've said all I want to say about that lot!
Why did you decide to write The Norman Conquests as three separate plays?
I wanted to explore offstage life. That is, the life of characters immediately before they come on and just after they leave the stage. I was also interested in experimenting with theatrical form. Whether in viewing the same weekend three times and making each play a complete evening in itself, I could also uncover fresh insights and altered perceptions of the characters each time someone sat down to re-see it. And whether seeing them in different orders would change their perception. As far as I know this had never been tried and although it owes a lot to the form, it's not strictly multi viewpoint theatre. I love pushing theatre to see how far it will shove.
If you could meet one of the characters from The Norman Conquests, who would it be?
Well, I'd probably cross the road if I saw any of them coming but I suppose Annie would be the most likely.
Beneath the humour of The Norman Conquests, there is a darker side. Was it your intention to write the play in this way?
I always set out, when I write a play, with some fairly serious intentions. The stronger the serious base upon which I build a play, the more I can allow my humorous side to run away a bit. I love this tension that the comic and the serious create when they run successfully side by side. It's a matter of balance: too dark becomes unbearable; too light and you are in danger of laughing at the characters which is really for a writer a terrible act of betrayal.
How difficult was it to write The Norman Conquests crosswise?
I think it all seemed fairly easy at the time. The problem was that one could never, as the writer, read the plays individually with an innocent eye. I needed several fresh pairs of eyes to read them before I was assured that they worked 'downwards' as well as crosswise.
You can find out more about The Norman Conquests at http://thenormanconquests.alanayckbourn.net.
Interview copyright: Alan Ayckbourn. Please do not reproduce this article without permission of the copyright holder.
